October 11, 2009
Dear loved ones,
I’ll take a turn this Sunday evening to write a report of our efforts the past few weeks.
Wednesday about noon or neighbor and former bishop sent some workers to pick up his window air conditioner unit from our kitchen/DR window. It does belong to him and he helped the Limburgs out by installing it for them. We didn’t have any warning about the change. Sort of caught us by surprise. He did send us a smaller unit, which means that I had to scramble to get a larger piece of plywood and hardware to secure the unit in the window (so that we wouldn’t have an open access for thieves). I fixed it up really good, but ran a screw into the tubing on the unit. It sounded like “air brakes” on a truck. Fortunately, I had developed a working relationship with a refrigeration repairman and he came to the rescue. He took it home to work on. He wasn’t able to return it until Friday morning (when we were scheduled to leave for the temple). We were anxious to get it installed and be on our way. When he arrived (an hour later than he’d told us) we removed the unit from the housing so that we could put in screws from the inside out so we would eliminate the problem of piercing the tubing. We got the unit housing and the plywood really solid in the window then proceeded to put the unit into the housing. The tube he had fixed wasn’t tucked in very well and we broke another tube. The “brakes on the truck” went off again! He went home for supplies and came back and repaired it here and we got it done. We immediately left for the terminal and boarded a bus at 10:30—three hours later than we had planned. We had planned on leaving early so Jeanine could see a chiropractor because she is having lots of problems with her back. With the late departure, that was out.
The buses:
The big bus lines were probably first class greyhound buses. When they aren’t in use in the US they sell them down here, where labor is cheap and they can keep them running for a long time. The air conditioning is generally driving 70 mph with the windows open. The seats vary in quality (a few are good, most are mediocre and many are poor or broken). There is a BR/toilet in the back, which usually functions (but there is no water to wash your hands). After waiting to get started and the stops for passengers all along the way, it takes about four hours to get to the City. On our trip Friday, our seats were very uncomfortable and we were pretty miserable. That made Jeanine’s back problems worse, but she is a trooper.
When you get to the terminal coming back, the workers from three bus lines all compete for your business and are immediately in your face trying to get your luggage from you so they can put it on their bus. They are pushy and obnoxious. I chose a different bus line to see if there was any improvement. Our normal bus line was starting to pull out, Jeanine suggested we switch, but this one said they would be leaving in 15 minutes. Three different lines left before us, while we were sitting there waiting. We sat for a full hour before it pulled out and started the long trip home. My knees and hips and low back were killing me from being cramped up for so long.
The midsized bus lines are used going to and from Esquipulas. The make a seat where there isn’t a seat and then shove people on top of people. When they can’t shove anymore into the seats, they all just stand in the doorway with the door open and hang on for dear life. They carry a half ton of bags and other things on the roof. This afternoon, I sat next to the driver with one knee doubled up to my seat. That added to my hip pain. Jeanine was already really hurting and had come home on an earlier bus. It isn’t always that crowded, of course.
The local bus when we return to Chiquimula we usually get on a city bus, which are vans with the side door removed and extra seats installed. I rode one of those to the apartment. When I got off of that bus, I wanted to cuss. I think there is some rule that a preacher can cuss under extreme circumstances.
It seems to me that the pattern of our best missionary work to date has been to “stop up the holes” or gaps in struggling branches. This was the case in Alamosa, CO, Garden City, KS and here In Esquipulas. There are three men there that are trying to overcome their spiritual problems. One of them is the couple that live way out of town with the ducks. Another one is a man who lives in an area just outside of town. His wife has been very ill with diabetes and renal problems. She was totally inactive and one day we found her when she was ill and gave her a blessing. Her husband was working out of town. At least we did that much. His daughter’s family recently moved in after the death of their child. The wife and daughter and grandchildren are now coming with him to meetings. That is real progress. The third is a man who is a brick/block hour builder. We’ve visited his family many times and he has been attending. His oldest son and his wife also attend sporadically. It doesn’t matter who gets credit—we work closely with two sets of elders there. There has to be a change of heart. Sometimes even a change in leadership is required. There has to be a desire from within the branch to progress. Otherwise, they will just continue to be a dysfunctional unit in the center of the religions of Babylon (Esquipulas is the regional center for the Catholic Church and is known for the Black Christ Crucifix)
As for the teaching at CUNORI, it’s there and we’ve tried. It is a project that is under the wing of the Benson Institute, which is under the presiding bishopric. The school hasn’t made our classes a requirement and so the attendance has dropped way down. That’s a problem the school and our leaders will have to struggle with. As long as the students can come or go without any consequences, it won’t improve much. It was that way for the couple that preceded us. This is the last week of student instruction until the end of January or first of February.
Our temple experiences have been wonderful. I’ll talk more about that another day.
Love,
Dad/Spencer
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